What would you do?

[toant103]

Originally posted by: monotony
Ok, let me start off by saying that I am not looking for the "wise advice" here. I know what I SHOULD do, but I am more interested in what YOU would do.

I will be receiving a check this week for @ 40K or so. I plan on buying a car with part of it. What I really, really want to buy is a Infiniti G35 Coupe 6MT which will pretty much deplete the entire amount. The other car I'm looking at is an Acura CL-S, which will leave me about 15K left over for whatever (house upgrades, home electronics, savings?, etc..). In anycase, my head is telling my to buy the Acura but my heart says get the G35. I'm 26 and have never owned a car less than 10-15 years old. I feel like I've paid my dues and now it's time to play! If you were in the same position, what would you do...?

Swap the cars to fit your style, but you get what I mean...

you don't have to pay for all of it at once for the G35

 

[Siddhartha]

How about:
1. Get out of debt
2. Take care of needs you have been putting off.
3. Spend two thirds of what you have left on a car.

 

[Gravity]

I am nearly 40. Looking back, nothing like that every happened to me. If you were REALLY wise, you would drive whatever beater you are currently driving and bank that 40k into a long term investment (real estate, timber, mutual fund, etc) and forget it exists for the next 30 years. Your peak earning years are ahead of you. Live within your means and then one day, you can peek at that nest egg and it will be smilin back at you with very large eyes.

The $$ on a car is a bit frivolous. Personally, the infiniti's are nothing more than honda's with a different symbol. If you want speed, get a 1990 BMW M3 for about 12k. If you want comfort/longevity, buy a 1998 Honda accord and put a lexus badge on the trunk, no one will ever know.

Gravity

 

[nan0bug]

What would you do if you found out you had cancer tomorrow?

What would you do if your house burned down tomorrow?

What would you do if you got a girl pregnant with quadruplets?

Life happens. Save the money.

 

[iamwiz82]

i say save some(75%) put a down payment on a car, and buy yourself some toys. Maybe a TV, camera, new deck for the house, something. I would find investing it all to be very depressing. BTW, how are you avoiding taxes?

Another idea: a nice vacation. When was the last time you had a 2 week vacation?

 

[Banana]

Seeing that you've already "paid your dues," you should get a home equity loan and buy the most expensive car available.

Seriously, I agree with most of the replies above: get a sensible car, like the Acura, and either place the rest in your mortgage, or if you don't have a working emergency cash reserve, put it in short term cash investments. If the potential of losing $10-15K is acceptable in your financial situation, now may be a good time to up your stake in equities.

 

[Ciber]

Buy a house or some small building and rent the space out.

My uncle owns this nice little 3 story building that he rents out and that baby pays off its own mortgage plus the car payments for his two cars.
Or just invest it.



Principal: $40,000
Years to grow: 10
Interest Rate: 10%
Compounded annually

Future Value: $103,749.70

 

[Brutuskend]

Harley Davidson.

Nuff said.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: Dr Smooth
How about:
1. Get out of debt
2. Take care of needs you have been putting off.
3. Spend two thirds of what you have left on a car.

We have a winnAr.

- M4H

 

[brigden]

"Vegas, Baby!"

 

[alrocky]

Originally posted by: monotony
I own a home and have no *real* SO to consult or worry about. I make enough $ right now to comfortably pay my mortgage & save/spend ~ 1200/mo or so. Don't have much savings though - or checking for that matter. No clue even HOW to invest it if I wanted to. The only investing I've ever done is buy a house and start a 401k. I guess my next question would be - what/where would be the wisest to invest in with 20-25k?

Get your financial life in order before blowing money on a car. Pay off credit card debt and don't carry over a CC balance. $3k for an IRA, perhaps a ROTH IRA; max your IRA out every year. Consider maxing out your 401k. Read the forums at Morningstar.com. Read <U>Mutual Funds for Dummies</U> by Eric Tyson. Consider a no load total stock market index mutual fund. Set aside at least 10% of your income for investments (savings and emergencies too).

26 and own a house? We should all be so lucky.

 

[monotony]

I don't find "Ghetto Rich" a particularly appealing term. But "blowing" the money on a car I don't believe would be the equivalent. I own a house and easily pay my bills each month. If buying the car was going to leave me broke, I wouldn't even entertain the idea. But it obviously isn't going to leave me particularly ahead either. My current car is a 87 Honda Accord that I recently dumped $1200 last month, and $800 the month before and it still needs work. I carry no debt except for my mortgage loan, and have no real 'needs' that I've been putting off (except a car . By 'paying my dues' I only meant that I have never owned a car even remotely nice, and have been sensible about not financing a car that I may be able to afford, but maybe not easily. Now I can get the car that I *really* want, paid off with no strings attached, and still be in decent financial position. Is 40k enough to get a decent return on if invested? I already have about 15k in a 401k and if the return on my 40k is going to be something I'm going to have to wait 30 years for, I'd rather not.

Admittedly I need to grow up in terms of planning my financial landscape...but it's okay to ignore all that just this once isn't it?